मराठी भाषेची विस्मृती

हा लेख जेव्हा मी लिहायला बसलो तेव्हा विचार केला होता कि ईंग्रजीमधे लिहीन. पण जसे मी ह्या लेखाबद्दल विचार करायला लागलो तसतसे ठरवले कि इंग्रजी सोडून मराठी भाषेत हा लेख लिहीन. अशी प्रयत्नांची पराकाष्ठा मी पहिल्यांदा करतोय, त्या मुळे जर काही चूकभूल झाली तर माफी असावी असे अस्वीकरण घेऊन तुम्हा लोकांशी माझी हि नम्र विनंती आहे कि चुकांना कसे सुधारू हे लेखाच्या टिपण्यांतून कळवावे.

अजिंक्य परिवारात सद्ध्या दोन मस्तीखोर कार्टी आहेत. मोठीचे नाव आहे अनसूया आणि छोट्याचे नाव आहे मल्हार. दोघेही शाळेत जातात. मी विचार केला की त्यांना माझ्याच शाळेत म्हणजे पार्ले टिळक विद्यालय मध्ये भरती कारेन. देवाचा आशिर्वादानी आणि बरोबर “जॅक ” लावून त्यांची ऍडमिशन झाली. मी इंग्रजी माध्यमात शिकलो आहे, म्हणून विचार केला कि मुलांनाही इंग्रजी माध्यमात टाकावे. ते पण आय से एस सी बोर्ड मध्ये. जेव्हा आम्ही हा निर्णय घेतला तेव्हा मुलांच्या शिक्षणाचा विचार घेऊनच तो केला होता.

भाषा हि एक संपर्काचे माध्यम आहे. जर तुमच्याशी कोणीही त्या भाषेत संपर्क साधणार नाही, तर तुम्ही ती भाषा वापरणार नाही. हळू हळू, तुम्ही ती भाषा विसरायला लागणार.

सकाळी उठल्यापासून रात्री झोपण्यापर्यंत जी भाषा आपण वापरतो तीच आपली मातृभाषा, असे म्हणायला काहीच हरकत नाही. मग तर माझ्या मुलांची भाषा इंग्रजी आहे. त्यांना गप्प करायचे असेल तर मी त्यांना म्हणतो “मुलांनो आता मराठीचा तास!”

घरी आम्ही मराठी फार क्वचित वापरतो. अर्थात संध्याकाळी मराठी टीव्ही चालू असतो, पण तो तर आजी आणि आजोबांसाठी असतो. एक तर घरी भाषेचा वापर कमी, शाळेत पण फक्त मराठीचा तासात भाषेचा वापर होतो. बाकी सगळा वेळ मोबाईल आणि टीव्ही मध्ये जातो. ह्या दोन माध्यमामध्ये इंग्रजीचा वापर जास्त होतो.

मुद्दा हा, कि दिवसात मराठीचा वापर होताच नाही.

कारणीभूत कोण?

खरंतर हि माझीचं चूक आहे.

भाषेचा वापर कसा करावा हे जर दिसले नाही तर मग ती भाषा कशी वापरायची ते कसे कळणार? मान्य आहे कि मी काही मराठीचा पापड नाही. पण, प्रयत्न नाही केला तर आता जसा माकड आहे तसाच माकड राहीन. आणि जेव्हा माझी पोरं मराठी भाषेची चिरफाड करतील तेव्हा मी फक्त “हूप हूप ” करिन!

एक रामबाण उपाय

मराठीत जास्तीत जास्त संचार करून भाषेचा वापर वाढवा.

All human beings are equal

For the West and East, it is common to have different value systems and beliefs. However, this video by Arnold Schwarzenegger on the recent issues faced by the US just goes to show that there are some universal values that everyone identifies with and stands by. This stance is similar to the one that Swami Vivkenanda took when he addressed the Chicago convention.

Treating everyone as equal instead of bringing in our perceived values and judgement when speaking to different people is one such value.

RJ Malishka, the BMC and the underlying breach of our freedom

If you have been listening to Red FM channel in Mumbai, then one of the celebrity RJs they have is Malishka. As part of a radio jingle, she made up this video –

Everyone knows that in Mumbai, rains wreck everything. This year, in fact we have yet to see a day where the entire city has come to a stand still. Having said that, there are a lot of gaps that BMC needs to address. The video was made as a satire, since then, it has had more than 3M views.

So what’s the big deal?

Instead of acting on this creative complaint, what BMC officials chose to do was extremely childish. They organized a “raid” on RJ Malishka’s place and supposedly “found” dengue mosquito larvae.

Then the local Shiv Sena team created a spoof video of this song and BMC went on to file a 500 Cr INR defamation case against the RJ.

All this over a silly jingle that was created. Yes, it was aired, and many people heard it and saw the video.

The big deal is that an individual’s freedom of expression, and the freedom of press is being trampled with here. I don’t know whether I would classify this video under press or under entertainment, but what I do know – is that there is more than a grain of truth to the song.

By reacting like a bully, the BMC has shown how it takes feedback. The next time Shiv Sena talks about giving the marathi manus a voice, think again. It’s all talk.

Game Theory in Dating, more towards understanding Nash’s Equilibrium

Game Theory is a fascinating subject. Especially when you take it out of theoretical economics and start applying it to human collectives.

I had written about applying Game Theory to SEO, a competitive field, where the more important point was to have a strategy and keep evolving instead of having a static winning strategy.

Game Theory in Dating

Do we really need to do this?

Yes, because applying the concepts helps us to understand some of the product features (Superlike for instance).

More importantly, in a space where the one currency both the members of the dating app has, is attention. That’s the time spent with your significant other. In an ideal scenario this would be equal. This is the Nash Equilibrium state.

Nash Equilibrium in Dating

However, the more men you have in a dating app (Tinder has 60% men global, in India this is all the more skewed), the more dynamic would be the state of the Nash equilibrium. Data from Tinder has shown that men are twice as more active on such apps.

The reason behind this is simple, men are spending more currency (attention and time) to find that ideal person on Tinder. Unfortunately, because the number of men is more on the app, the amount of attention an average man would have to spend will keep going up (since the Equilibrium is unbalanced).

Nash’s equilibrium is a simple concept that helps economists predict how competing companies will set prices, how much to pay a much-in-demand employee and even how to design auctions so as to squeeze the most out of bidders. It was developed by John Nash, the Nobel Prize-winning economist and mathematician, whose life story was told…

via Why we need a dating app that understands Nash’s equilibrium — Quartz

So what?

The next time you are on such an app and if you are a woman, don’t be surprised if you are hounded by men. The equilibrium will never be reached unless you have the same amount of men and women on the app.

Take this concept and apply in real life.

In a country such as India, where sons are preferred (there I said it, and it’s not politically correct), the gender ratio in population is skewed. The Nash Equilibrium is also getting badly skewed.

You have to woo and court your significant other, not just because it’s romantic, but because it is required!

यथा प्रजा तथा राजा?

Indians who considered Trump’s America a safe haven are in for a nasty wake up call. Like Muslims and Jews, Indians are not immune to racist attacks. On Thursday, a Kansas man open fired at a bar in the city of Olathe, killing 32-year-old Srinivas Kuchibhotla and injuring his colleague, 32-year-old Alok Madasani. Both men…

via Indians around the world are realizing the harsh reality of Trump’s “America First” policies — Quartz

This post is why people should learn to correctly attribute effects to the right cause. The way in which the article is attributing racism in the United States to Donald Trump is not fair. The article is glossing over the fact that there is racism in the country and most white citizens cannot identify the origin of a colored citizen based on his skin color.

Worse, the issue that needs to be discussed is gun control laws and not Trump.

On an off note – I have been using WordPress reader in the last couple of days and am liking the share mechanic that they have.

Dr. Strange and the case of Disabling Constructs

Dr. Strange is a Marvel Superhero set in the Avengers Universe. The Marvel Comics Universe (MCU) has rolled out a fair number of movies in these past years. Dr. Strange is one of it’s top grossing hits for a single Marvel super hero (beating Iron Man, Ant Man, Thor and Hulk).

Continue reading “Dr. Strange and the case of Disabling Constructs”